A Message from the Executive Director
In our clinics, Loyola Law School students demonstrate their excellence and passion for justice every day. This past year, our students advocated in court, conducted field investigations and complex research, mediated disputes, and supported the work of our community partners to increase access to justice. We are proud to share with you some of the achievements in our clinics from the spring semester.
We are also planning for the future and hope you will continue to partner with us. Whether you’re a current student interested in joining a clinic, an alum or friend interested in partnership, or a community agency interested in collaboration, we look forward to engaging with you.
-Elizabeth Bluestein
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Outstanding Graduating Clinical Students of 2023
This year, Loyola Social Justice Law Clinic students fought to protect the education rights of foster children, removed barriers to employment for the formerly incarcerated, mediated custody agreements, obtained compensation for victims of crime, resolved tax issues, represented unaccompanied minors, welcomed clients home from prison and juvenile detention, and much more. These are just some of the superlative achievements of the 2023 Outstanding Clinic Students, announced at graduation in May. Read about them in the words of their clinical supervisors>>
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LOYOLA Project for the iNNOCENTVolunteers Learn to Screen for Wrongful Conviction Evidence
On June 3, Loyola Project for the Innocent (LPI) hosted 20 volunteers, including in-house attorneys and employees from the Association of Corporate Counsel SoCal Pro Bono Committee, for a volunteer event on the law school campus. Using their expertise in training future lawyers, Professor Laurie Levenson and LPI Senior Program Director Adam Grant educated the volunteers on the anatomy of wrongful convictions and shared information about some of the successful exonerations LPI has achieved over the past decade. Yearly, LPI receives around 800 requests for assistance. With the guidance of LSLJC Administrative Coordinator Ryan Livigni, the ACC volunteers took on this backlog and screened and responded to 70-plus letters of inquiry.
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YOUTH JUSTICE EDUCATION CLINICEducation Clinic Students Help Client on Her Way to College
This past year, the Youth Justice Education Clinic (YJEC) represented "Jane" (name changed to protect her identity) – a now 17-year-old student who was suspended from school in November 2022, referred to law enforcement, and eventually expelled and charged in a juvenile case. With support from clinical law students Michaela Storm ’24 and Elizabeth Westbrook ’24, YJEC Director Megan Stanton-Trehan and YJEC Equal Justice Works Fellow Stacy Nuñez zealously advocated for Jane’s right to a fair expulsion hearing. At the hearing, YJEC was able to get the Los Angeles Unified School Police on record confirming that Jane was already under arrest when school administrators questioned her. Under California law, at age 17 or younger, a student under arrest cannot be questioned without the presence of a lawyer. Jane’s right to an attorney had been violated. YJEC’s ability to establish this fact on the record in Jane’s education case helped Jane’s defense attorneys persuade the DA to dismiss Jane’s juvenile case.
However, LAUSD continued to refuse to remove Jane’s expulsion from her record. From March to June, YJEC advocated to the School Board, submitted an appeal to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, and reached out to the school district to advocate for the removal of Jane’s expulsion from her records. Meanwhile, YJEC Social Worker Cindy Galvan supported Jane and her family through this unjust and traumatic experience, and Jane earned enough credits at her new high school to graduate a year early. The district finally agreed to reinstate Jane and remove her expulsion from her record a year early. Jane was accepted into California State University, Northridge, and is set to start college in the fall with a clear record. She hopes to prepare for an eventual career as a lawyer.
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GENOCIDE JUSTICE CLINICGenocide Justice Clinic Partners with Bet Tzedek to Support Holocaust Survivors
For the first time this past academic year, the Loyola Genocide Justice Clinic partnered with Bet Tzedek’s Holocaust Services Program to offer free assistance to Holocaust survivors applying for reparations and benefits from European countries. In addition to research and analysis of the clients’ eligibility for claims, students Anuraag Sanga ’24 and Michelle Garabetian ‘24 described interviewing the survivors in person as a highlight of their clinic experience. More>>
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LOYOLA CENTER FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTIONLCCR Hosts 'Just the Beginning' Annual Summer Legal Institute for First Generation and BIPOC High School Students
At the end of June, the Loyola Center for Conflict Resolution welcomed 40-plus local high school students to campus for Just the Beginning's annual Summer Legal Institute. By introducing first-generation and BIPOC students to new learning spaces and opportunities, Just the Beginning seeks to broaden access to legal education and increase diversity in the legal profession. The student scholars spent the weeklong program learning directly from a dedicated and diverse group of judges, lawyers, and students; they visited the Federal Court House; they attended a networking mixer at Jones Day; and they saw firsthand what law school and the practice of law are all about. They also learned basic conflict resolution and negotiation skills, which they put into action at a Negotiation Competition judged by volunteer law students, lawyers, and judges!
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JUVENILE JUSTICE CLINICJuvenile Justice Clinic Impact 2022-23
During the past academic year, nine Juvenile Justice Clinic (JJC) students spent nearly 1,700 hours zealously advocating on behalf of a dozen Los Angeles youth facing serious charges in court. These students navigated the juvenile justice system and established meaningful relationships with their young clients, ultimately enabling them to achieve the dismissal of over 20 felony cases, almost half of which would have counted as strikes and two of which involved minors wrongfully charged with attempted murder. In most cases, students successfully negotiated for non-strike offenses that made their charges eligible for sealing and dismissal.
These dedicated students also achieved nearly 15 dismissals of probation violations and worked to ensure that the probation department complied with its obligations to the youth in its charge, including obtaining an order for the probation department to provide $3,000 in back payments to a client after the department wrongfully terminated funding for the client without an adequate hearing. On top of these successes in court, JJC students challenged staff shortages and inadequate facilities in Juvenile Hall and arranged for their clients to be released from these inadequate facilities to home or suitable placements. We applaud this year's JJC Class – Folashade Akinola '23, Brian Gilmartin ’23, Lindsey Khim ’24, Ciera Teets ’23, Ashli Hart ’24, Chloe Gucciardi ’24, Steffi Henry ’23, Noah Johnson ’24, and Raquel Alvarado-Perez ’24 – whose hard work serves as a testament to the impact of holistic juvenile advocacy.
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LOYOLA IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CLINICClinic Client Obtains Green Card and Advocates for Her Community
Jessica Sanchez first became a client of the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic years ago when she was a trainee at LIJC community partner Homeboy Industries, and needed assistance with her U-visa case based on her victimization as a child. By mobilizing quickly, LIJC was able to save Jessica’s U-visa application from being wrongfully denied. More recently, LIJC represented Jessica on her adjustment-of-status application and welcomed her as a U.S. green card holder. Now a hard-working mother of three and an employee in Homeboy Industries’ policy advocacy unit, Jessica has dedicated herself to advocating for her community and eventually plans to attend law school.
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CENTER FOR JUVENILE LAW & POLICYCJLP Plans for Future of Independent Forensic Gang Expert College with Support from the California Wellness Foundation
Center for Juvenile Law & Policy students defend at-risk youth who are trapped in the school-to-prison pipeline. These young defendants are routinely labeled as entrenched gang members and given enhanced prison sentences as a result. The reality, as our clinic students know, is far more nuanced. Most young people involved in delinquency are not committing a crime to benefit a street gang, but rather are facing problems at home that could be treated in ways other than incarceration.
CJLP’s Independent Forensic Gang Expert College aims to change the prevailing narrative in the juvenile system, by training those with lived experience to testify as experts about what it means to be gang involved. We are honored to partner with the California Wellness Foundation in these efforts. Read about the California Wellness Foundation’s support here.
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